


Lost and Gained

by nagi_schwarz



Series: The Oppenheimer Effect [66]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Clan Mitchell, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 07:52:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8789692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Multiverse, Any, Love, Loss, and What We Ate (Padma Lakshmi)".JD contemplates the family he lost and gained on the day of his second son's high school graduation.





	

JD had never thought he’d get to see this day, when his son graduated from high school. Granted, he wasn’t going to watch Tyler graduate so much as participate in the graduation. He’d been at the school gym since eight that morning, running around and setting up chairs and banners and the stage. Evan and Cam had directed, Cam being the engineer and Evan being the artiste with the vision. It had taken all three of them to figure out why the microphone at the podium wasn’t working. They were all a little sleep-deprived from hosting the party the night before and making breakfast that morning - JD had grabbed toast and dashed out the door ahead of Evan and Cam and John - and their nerves were a little frazzled. John, by virtue of being the musician of the three of them, had been put in charge of the music, and he’d actually managed to wrangle a few of their musician students for a stripped-down version of Pomp and Circumstance so they wouldn’t have to use the canned version.  
  
They’d wrangled some kids to sing the Star-Spangled Banner, because Connors was very patriotic, and John, Yu, Elliot, Kelea, Kristen, Angel, and Gabriel had folded the graduation programs, which JD was handing out to parents, caseworkers, grandparents, and friends as they came through the doors.  
  
Memorial High School’s graduation wasn’t nearly as big as any of the other local high school graduations, was smaller than a lot of the private schools and charter schools, but JD was fiercely proud of every boy and girl who was going to cross the stage today, because most of them had come to this school with the odds stacked against them, having been written off as failures by most of the people in their lives.  
  
“JD!” Fiona did a double take when he handed her a program.   
  
“Good to see you, Miss Chapman,” he said, polite as ever.  
  
“I knew Tyler would get to walk today with all of you looking out for him,” she said, patting his arm.  
  
JD smiled. “No way any of us would have let him flunk out so close to graduation.” He refrained from asking who she was there to see.  
  
“I’m proud of him,” she said. “And all of you, too.” She cast him a knowing look, then went to find a seat.  
  
JD glanced over his shoulder and saw John and Evan wrangling the ramp up to the stage so Cam could get his wheelchair up there to sit with the rest of the faculty. Connors had readily agreed to Cam’s request that he be allowed to present Tyler with his diploma.  
  
“Big day, huh?”  
  
JD spun around, and there was Daniel. Carter. Teal’c. All dressed in sharp suits.  
  
Daniel reached out, squeezed JD’s shoulder, and he swallowed hard.  
  
“Big day,” he agreed.  
  
“I didn’t get to walk with my graduating class,” Daniel said. “What with me graduating at sixteen and all. First graduation I ever saw was Cassandra’s. Teal’c didn’t get to see that one, so this is a pretty big day for him too.”  
  
“I understand this ritual is very important in a young person’s life,” Teal’c said.  
  
“Very,” Carter said softly. “Will you be sitting with us?”  
  
“I get to sit with the faculty, actually.”  
  
“Congratulations,” Daniel said. “You must be very proud.”  
  
“Very.” Being a teenager again, with all the heightened emotions and sensations it entailed, had been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, sex was awesome. On the other hand - JD swallowed down the lump in his throat. “I think Evan saved about four rows for our family, if you want to go grab some seats front and center.”  
  
Carter chuckled. “Lorne always was an efficient officer. We’ll talk after - and take lots of pictures.”  
  
JD nodded, and Daniel led the rest of SG-1 toward their seats.  
  
Sure enough, the Mitchells arrived, with the Millers and the Sheppards and Clan Bluebell in tow, and they took up the rest of the seats Evan had saved. JD hadn’t realized SG-1 would be coming to Tyler’s graduation ceremony. Evan must have known, to save as many seats as he had.  
  
Once all the programs were handed out, JD made his way up to the stage, sitting beside Gabriel and Kristen on the staff bench, since he wasn’t officially a teacher. His own high school graduation was a faded memory - boring speech, uncomfortable robes, tossing the mortarboards, hugs from his parents. He’d been itching to get out of the house, go to the Academy. Fly.

Charlie’s kindergarten graduation ceremony had seemed ridiculous at the time, because it was kindergarten fer cryin’ out loud, but Sara had insisted, and he’d made the effort to be there, and -  
  
The opening notes of Pomp and Circumstance jolted JD out of his reverie.  
  
Here it was. The time had come. The students filed in row by row, in alphabetical order, and stood in front of their seats. Once all of them were present, some local Boy Scouts presented the colors, and everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Then it came time to sing the national anthem.  
  
JD could remember, in that desert cell, humming the tune just to piss off his captors -   
  
No. Today was about Tyler. About the present. About family.  
  
Tyler was shorter than a lot of his peers, but JD located him by last name and the seeming gap in one of the student rows. When the song was finished, Connors directed the students to sit, and it was time. For speeches. Connors’s commencement address was short and sweet, because he wasn’t one for idle chatter. He congratulated the students for their hard work, told them to be proud of what they’d accomplished, and to carry that drive and momentum forward for the rest of their lives.  
  
The valedictorian speech by Tina was perfect - funny, punchy, but laced with that dark humor that made even JD wince, because she, like so many of her peers, had been through a kind of hell JD wouldn’t wish on even his worst enemies (except maybe Ba’al). The salutatorian speech was also short and sweet, and here it was. Time for the diplomas.  
  
The teachers were supposed to be dignified, yes, but Evan, John, and Cam had coached their clans to go nuts when Tina and Sasha crossed the stage. Rodney’s sister and husband joined in with abandon, as did John’s nieces, and JD saw pleased smiles cross the girls’ faces as they walked across the stage to shake hands with Connors and receive their diplomas.  
  
JD almost missed Tyler’s moment, because even now he sometimes forgot Tyler’s last name had been changed to Mitchell, but then Evan was saying Tyler’s name, and the noise from the audience - mostly Cam’s family - was nearly deafening, and Tyler’s grin as he crossed the stage lit the entire room, and there was Cam, holding out the diploma. He pulled Tyler into a hug instead of shaking his hand, and the cheers grew louder, which JD wouldn’t have thought possible.  
  
Tyler turned and waved to the audience, and camera flashes went off - and then Tyler turned and darted toward the teacher stands, and before JD knew what was what, Tyler had tugged him into a hug.  
  
“Love you,” Tyler whispered, and then he pulled back and hurried to the edge of the stage to take his seat, leaving JD shaking and trying not to cry. Kristen patted him on the shoulder, but he barely noticed her, instead watching Tyler beam as he sat down with the other students.  
  
JD stared down at Tyler, his son, the second chance he’d never deserved, and promised the universe he’d do it right, he’d protect his boy at all costs.  
  
Principal Connors declared the students officially graduated, and mortarboards went flying up in the air - Evan had instructed Tyler to keep his tassel, so it could go with his framed diploma - and then it was over.  
  
Another year, another class graduated.   
  
JD’s son, graduated.

More than one student wanted pictures with their favorite teachers, and JD, Evan, Cam, and John must have posed for a hundred pictures between the stage and their families. As promised, Carter wielded her camera with an expert hand, snapping away, some candid shots, some group poses. Tyler posed with each family, all of his dads, each of his dads individually, John and Rodney, Cam and Evan and JD, with Tina and Sasha, and also Brenda and Nadine, who’d come out to support him. He posed with all of his kid cousins, and his grandparents, and with some of his other teachers. He even posed with Fiona and - to everyone’s surprise and delight - Judge Whitmore, who no one had recognized without his official robe.  
  
“Now,” Sookie said, “back to Casa Atlantica for food!”  
  
“More food?” Kathy whispered to Dave, not quite as subtly as she probably thought.  
  
“There’s so such thing as too much food in a Lorne house,” Bobbie said proudly.  
  
“We need to stay behind and help clean up,” John began, and Wendy Mitchell issued a shrill whistle, which caused several heads to turn, but then Ash was moving to help stack chairs, and Evan’s sister pitched in, and just like that, a clean-up army was mobilized.  
  
Tyler and Tina and Sasha pitched in for a bit, but Cam sent them on their way, had Tyler catch a ride back to the house with Brenda and Nadine. The gym was just about completely clean - Evan was pushing the massive broom back and forth across the floor - when Cam caught JD over by the podium where he was coiling up the sound cables.  
  
“You okay?” Cam asked.  
  
JD slewed a glance at him. “Of course. It’s graduation day. The day we live for every year. Proof that our days banging our heads against the brick walls known as student wills were all worth it.”  
  
Cam caught JD’s wrist, stilling him. “You earned this day not just as a teacher but also as a father. You know that, right?”  
  
JD nodded, not trusting himself to speak.  
  
“It’s okay to miss him today,” Cam said softly.  
  
JD nodded again.  
  
Cam squeezed his hand. “C’mon. Gabriel says he’s got the rest. Let’s go home.”  
  
Home, to the family JD had thought he’d lost (Evan had invited SG-1 to the house), the family he’d gained, and of course, all the best food in the world.  
  
JD squeezed back. “Yeah. Let’s go.”


End file.
